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Elmira Business Institute wasn't at Thursday's SUNY Broome Community College Job Fair, but the two organizations don't exactly agree on why.

After the Star-Gazette's media partner WENY-TV reported that EBI was "uninvited" to the Binghamton event, SUNY-Broome issued a statement Friday explaining its reasoning.

"SUNY Broome's Job Fair is a resource for job seekers in our community and is offered for students and others who are seeking immediate job opportunities. Unfortunately, there may have been some confusion for EBI regarding the purpose of the event. A college fair might be more appropriate," the statement says.

The college did not give a reason for the exclusion in an email last week informing EBI of its decision, said Giovanni Sealey, EBI's chief academic officer.

"It was very surprising that we would be invited, accepted, then uninvited. This was definitely just a surprise and sad," he said. EBI had hoped to fill three open positions at the fair, he said.

In its statement, SUNY-Broome said it offered EBI "an opportunity to display their materials and to announce any available positions."

"It's important to the college that our job fair's focus — connecting Southern Tier residents with available jobs in the region — remain intact," the statement continued.

Contacted after the release of the statement, Sealey declined comment. Earlier Friday, he talked about disappointment at the college's decision.

"We were just very saddened that an event such as that, where I have three full-time staff positions available, we weren't able to get out there and actually look for the best that the fair had to offer to bring in and be able and get out there and talk with the employers and the companies that are out there to see how our graduates can help them," he said.